


Look Into My Eyes (It’s Where My Demons Hide)

by HappyJuicyfruit



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF May Parker (Spider-Man), Crack and Angst, Gen, Hungry Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Hurt Peter Parker, Possession, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Venom eats a dog, Venom eats humans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 11:17:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21319327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyJuicyfruit/pseuds/HappyJuicyfruit
Summary: “I am Peter.”“No,” Tony glared at him. “You’re really not.”They stared at each other, Tony’s fists still in Peter’s shirt, until Peter’s grin started to grow. And grow.And grow.By the time it stopped, it was a swirl of black goo and sharp teeth, twisted and grotesque across Peter’s face.“You’re right,” the thing said, in a voice that sounded like Peter’s vocal cords had been hacked up by a chainsaw. “I’m really not.” It’s eyes blinked, and the black spread, covering the rest of Peter’s face. “He is in here though. And oh, has he missed you.”
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 42
Kudos: 317
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Look Into My Eyes (It’s Where My Demons Hide)

**Author's Note:**

> Alright my dears, here is a darker fic I meant to post on Halloween! So, have some horrorish fic a few days later? Woops? 
> 
> This fic is a bit on the gruesome side, but I did try to throw some humour in there for you. Hope you like it :)  
Also disclaimed, I only know Venom through movies, I'm sure I got everything about him wrong. Sorry. 
> 
> Title is from an Imagine Dragons song. 
> 
> Warnings: Peter is possessed by Venom  
Venom eats a person, its not graphic but its there, and references eating other people too.  
Venom, looking like Peter, also eats a dog.  
There is a lot of swearing.

Tony sighed as he stared down at his phone, begging it to ring. Chime. Vibrate.  _ Anything _ , really, to show that there was an incoming message. 

“Sir, you have been staring at your phone for ten minutes, shall I contact Ms Potts and inform her you are having an episode?” 

“No,” Tony grumbled, shoving his phone away and turning back to the suit he was in the middle of working on. “I’m not having an episode, I’m just… waiting for a message.” 

Besides, Pepper was in Japan. Tony would already be with her if she were here. 

The phone vibrated. Tony dived for it. 

**Rhodey** :  _ You’re coming tonight, right? Hap isn’t dragging me to this by myself?  _

Tony sighed. Of course it was Rhodey complaining about Happy’s birthday. Of course it wasn’t- he shook his head. 

It wasn’t a certain Spider kid he’s been missing since December. 

**Stark** :  _ Yeah I’ll be there. Be prepared for loud music, he’s trying to impress a girl.  _

**Rhodey** :  _ so, what? We’re going to a concert?  _

**Stark** :  _ No, we’re going to a club. Happy tries to act like me when he’s trying to impress a girl  _

**Rhodey** : _ He knows how stupid that is, right? _

Tony rolled his eyes. He didn’t think Happy was even aware of what he was doing. 

**Stark** : _ I’ll pick you up at 9:30.  _

He threw his phone to the side before he could stare at it again. He didn’t want Friday to actually message Pepper. 

Besides, it was fine. The kid was having a good time away in college, it was… it was how it should be. 

Tony just hadn’t expected to be cut out so fast. 

In Pete’s first semester at MIT he’d called Tony all the time. Asking for advice, or math help, or just… just to talk on those homesick nights alone in a dorm room. 

It had been nice. Tony had felt like a dad, helping his kid through the first year of college. Hell, he’d even had Peter and May spend a week at the tower over Pete’s break. Like one big happy family. And after everything they had been through during the kids years of highschool, he thought they deserved their happy ending. 

Apparently Peter hadn’t felt the same. He hadn’t talked to Tony since he’d gone back for his second semester. 

It was the end of March now. The kid would be finished school soon and looking for a summer job. He hadn’t asked him about his old internship job yet. He didn’t know if the kid was going to, even though he had to know the job was here for him if he needed it. 

Tony tried not to think about what would happen if Peter didn’t want to talk to him when he was back in New York. 

\-- 

Happy was dressed in a suit without a tie, the top buttons of a red and yellow striped dress shirt undone. He was wearing sunglasses. And a fedora. Tony had to elbow Rhodey to keep the man from laughing. 

He couldn’t stop May from laughing though. 

“What?” Happy asked, looking down at his clothes. 

“What are you  _ wearing _ ?” 

Tony sighed, trust the man to fall in love with the most confident woman in New York City, May was never going to let him live this down. He stepped in before Happy could blubber out something that didn’t make any sense. 

“This everyone?” He asked. It was just him, Rhodey and May. He’d thought Happy would at least invite some more people as a buffer… although, maybe that was the point. 

Who knows. He’d stopped thinking about this shit since he’d finally convinced Pepper to marry him. 

“Yeah, yeah, uh, is the kid coming?” Happy glanced around. “He never got back to me.” 

“You invited Peter?” Tony shook his head, “he’s underage, he can’t get in.” 

“Yeah, but you’d get him in,” Happy knocked his shoulder. “And of course I did, he’s part of the family.” Happy’s eyes moved to May, but she was too busy laughing with Rhodey to notice. 

Poor guy, he had it bad. 

“I haven’t talked to the kid, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.” Tony clapped a hand on his shoulder and lead the way to the bouncer. 

“I know he’s away at school, but it’s the weekend. I thought maybe…”

“These three are with me.” Tony said to the bouncer, ignoring Happy completely. He didn’t need to rationalize why Peter didn’t come to Happy’s birthday. Peter hadn’t come to anything in months, this would be no different. 

The man nodded and let them in. Tony smiled, he’d forgotten how nice it was to skip past a long line at a club. The night was looking up after all- 

Nope. Nu uh. This was a bullshit idea. 

The blaring music hit him as soon as he stepped past the wall, and he immediately regretted all of his decisions. This was a young person's game, and none of them should be here. Tony had enough hearing damage as it was. 

He should have convinced Happy to a fancy dinner out. May would have been way more impressed by that. 

“Wooo!” May cheered, grabbing Happy’s hand and making her way to the dance floor. 

On the other hand, maybe Happy knew May better than he did. 

Rhodey tapped his arm and nodded toward the bar. Yep, yep that was for sure needed if they were going to make it through this. 

The two of them both got a drink, and then leaned against the bar and watched as Happy awkwardly danced with May in the middle of a dance floor surrounded by twenty year olds. 

It was barely ten, so Tony was expecting it to get even more crowded and noisy in the next few hours. He was already disliking having his personal space invaded. 

Maybe he would go to the VIP section. Get a couch to sit on at least. 

The things he did for his friends. 

“Come on,” he shouted at Rhodey, pointing towards the roped off section. Rhodey nodded, and they began to fight their way through the growing crowd. He thought about letting Happy know where they were going, but then figured they all had their phones. Besides, he and Rhodey could probably leave at this point and Happy wouldn’t even notice. 

The VIP bouncer nodded Tony through without a blink of an eye, and Tony sighed in relief when he walked into a moderately quieter section of the club. 

“Why did we come to this again?” Rhodey asked, slipping into a booth. 

“Because Happy is a dear friend that we love and support?” 

Rhodey stared at him blankly, “why did  _ I _ come to this?” 

“Hey, you’re friends with Happy.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Rhodey sighed, downing half his drink. 

“I say we stay for an hour, and then get out of here. The love birds probably won’t even notice.” 

“If they don’t notice, why are we staying for an hour?” 

Tony sighed, “I don’t know, I don’t make the rules.” 

Rhodey raised a brow at him. 

“Pepper told me I had to stay for at least an hour.” 

“Of course she did,” Rhodey pulled out his phone, “well, I’ve got some shit I need to do, and I can barely hear you anyway.” 

Tony shrugged, pulling out his own phone as Rhodey dove into his. 

His eyes lingered over the kid’s name. He had an excuse to text him now, see if he was going to show for Happy’s party or not. Why he would reply to this text though and not any of Tony’s other texts, Tony didn’t know. He just felt like… maybe he would, if it wasn’t for him. Maybe the kid would be willing to talk about someone else. 

Tony sighed and swiped the contacts away, opening Candy Crush instead. 

They sat in silence, the blaring music too loud to attempt conversation anyway. They didn’t even bother to order more drinks after they finished their first round. 

He really was getting old. 

A few minutes after 11, Rhodey dropped his phone and looked over at him. Tony nodded, they didn’t need to say anything. 

They both wanted to get the hell out of here. 

The music was at full force when they made their way back to the main room. The dance floor was packed, and Tony didn’t even try to find Happy or May in this crowd. He would text them afterward, tell them they looked like they were having too much fun to interrupt. 

That is, if they were even still here. Maybe the love birds had ditched them already. Who the fuck knew, in this crowd. 

Rhodey was right behind him as he pushed his way through the dancing bodies. He got a faceful of hairsprayed hair, and then a drink splashed down his shirt. 

Yeah. He was never doing this again. 

He could see the exit though, could practically taste the fresh air. He honestly had no idea how he used to live like this. He could already feel a headache coming on- 

Rhodey grabbed his arm and dragged him to a halt, Tony turned around, but he was pointing at something else, something towards the bar. Tony turned in confusion, and then felt his jaw drop. 

Peter was standing on top of the bar, taking shots between two random women. 

Tony looked at Rhodey, who had both his eyebrows raised high, and then looked back at the bar. 

Yep. That was Peter Parker,  _ eighteen year old Peter Parker _ , standing  _ on top of the bar _ , taking  _ shots _ . 

“What the  _ fuck _ ?” 

Tony changed directions after that. It took a minute, but he finally made it to the bar just in time for the kid to jump off of it. 

“Peter!” 

Peter didn’t react to him. Instead, Peter stuck his tongue down one of the girls throats. 

_ “What the fuck?!”  _ Tony grabbed Peter’s arm and pulled, “Peter!” 

Peter finally turned to look at him. He didn’t look mad that he was being dragged out of his make out session, or annoyed, or anything. He looked blank. He stared at Tony with a completely blank expression, no recognition in his eyes, for long enough that Tony felt a chill run down his spine. 

Something at the back of his mind told him that this? This person, staring at him right now? Yeah. 

This wasn’t Peter Parker. 

Then he blinked, and it was like it had never happened. Peter was smiling at him, stepping into his space. “Stark! What are you doing here?” 

Stark? Peter didn’t call him- 

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” Rhodey asked, situating himself between Peter and the girl he’d just been making out with. 

“Oh, you know how it is,” Peter waved a hand. “Started at a friends place, ended up here.” 

“No, we don’t know how that is. How do  _ you _ know how that is?” Tony said, grabbing a fist full of Peter’s shirt. Peter’s nice, designer, shirt. “Come on, we’re getting out of here.” 

Peter laughed as Tony dragged him through the crowd. He laughed as Tony threw him onto the street, and crossed his arms to glare at him. 

He laughed gleefully when Rhodey stepped out and took the same position beside him. 

“Oh man, this is great.”

“Peter, this is serious,” Rhodes said, “what are you doing here? How much have you had to drink tonight?” 

Peter shrugged, “wasn’t counting.” And then he turned around and walked away. Rhodey and Tony shared a worried glance before they started chasing after him. 

“Kid, you’re supposed to be at MIT, what the hell are you doing here?” Tony asked. 

Peter flapped a hand, “oh, I left that place months ago. Super boring, didn’t like it there.” 

“What?” Tony hissed. He grabbed Peter’s arm again, twisting him around. “You left?

“Yep,” Peter said, entirely unconcerned by Tony’s angry hold on him. 

“When? Does May know?” 

“Like I said, months ago,” Peter smiled at him, “hey, was that May in there dancing with Happy? Good for him. She could do better.” 

Tony looked at Peter, really looked at him, and felt his stomach turn to ice. Even though Peter was smiling now, and his eyes crinkled at the corners like they usually did,  _ Peter _ wasn’t inside of them. 

His eyes were as blank as they had been before, just with a mask thrown on top. 

“You know,” Peter’s hands were suddenly on his waste, his hips aligning with Tony’s as he started to grind. “If you wanted to get up close and personal, we should have stayed in the club.” 

Tony shoved him away, into the concrete wall of the nightclub. 

“What the fuck have you done with him?” Tony hissed. 

“Woah, Tones, calm down,” Rhodey raised his hands, but his eyes were on Peter. 

Peter’s blank, creepy eyes, stared at Tony as his lips twisted into a grin. “Yeah, Tones, calm down. Don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he hissed. “What did you do to Peter?” 

“I am Peter.” 

“No,” Tony glared at him. “You’re really not.” 

They stared at each other, Tony’s fists still in Peter’s shirt, until Peter’s grin started to grow. And grow.

And grow. 

By the time it stopped, it was a swirl of black goo and sharp teeth, twisted and grotesque across Peter’s face. 

“You’re right,” the thing said, in a voice that sounded like Peter’s vocal cords had been hacked up by a chainsaw. “I’m really not.” It’s eyes blinked, and the black spread, covering the rest of Peter’s face. “He is in here though. And oh, has he missed you.” 

Tony only realized his mistake after it was too late. His hands were covered in the black goo, which was now spreading up his arms. 

“What the-” 

“Come on, Stark, join us. Peter’s been oh so lonely in here with just little ol’ me.” 

“Pete?” Tony whispered. Was Peter really… trapped? In this thing? 

Had been for months? 

“He’s crying, Mr. Stark,” the thing said, its tendrils up to his elbows now. “He’s scared.” 

“Peter, I’m gonna get you out, okay buddy? I’m going to get you out-” 

A flash, bright enough that Tony instinctively turned away. He was tugged out of the things grasp as he heard it hiss in disgust. By the time Tony’s vision blinked back to normal, the thing was halfway up the wall. 

“Hey!” He shouted, “get back here with my kid!” 

The thing didn’t wait though. It climbed over the top of the building and vanished. 

“Jesus Christ,” Rhodey panted, his hand still covered in his War Machine tech. “Jesus, what the fuck was that?” 

Tony shook his head. He didn’t know. 

But he sure as fuck was going to find out. 

\-- 

Tony slammed into his lab, “Friday, I need you to run a diagnostic on any residue left on my hands.” He shoved his hands into one of Fridays ports, stared as the red lines appeared and started to take the evidence off his skin. 

He really hoped that thing had left something on him, something he could use to learn what it was. 

Something he could track down. 

“Collection complete, running diagnostic now,” Friday said. 

Tony took his hands out, and then finally went to wash them off. They felt disgusting. 

Rhodey stepped into the room as he was elbow deep in the sink. 

“May still isn’t answering her phone, and neither is Happy.” 

Tony sighed, “right, well… we’ll just have to wait for them to get back to us. I’m not wasting anymore time hunting them down. I’ve already wasted fucking  _ months _ waiting for the kid to-” Tony shook his head. “I should have realized. This isn’t like Peter. I should have fucking  _ realized _ something was wrong.” 

“Tony, you thought he was acting like any other kid going to school for the first time. This isn’t your fault.” 

Tony snorted. Right. He hadn’t actually thought to go check on his kid in person when he started acting strange months ago, that wasn’t his fault. He threw his hand towel to the side in disgust, of  _ course _ this was his fault. The only reason he hadn’t forcefully gone to check on Peter was because he had been waiting for Peter to come to him. 

Because his precious  _ feelings _ had been hurt that Peter had stopped talking to him in the first place. 

“It doesn’t matter now, we need to find him. We need to get that- that thing away from him.” 

“What even  _ is _ that thing?”

“Diagnostic complete,” Friday said, projecting her results on the screen in front of them. Tony raised his eyebrows at the results. 

“Whatever it is, it’s alien.” 

\-- 

Tony had Friday tracking all the cameras in New York City for Peter’s face. If that didn’t work, they were spreading nationwide. 

If that didn’t work… world wide it would have to be. 

He had Rhodey watch the last few entries of the baby-monitor feed. Peter hadn’t been going out as Spider Man while he was away at MIT, but Tony knew that he still put the suit on sometimes, just to get out and get some practice in. Always in the middle of the night, and never around other people. They didn’t want Spider Man’s secret identity getting out, and it would be suspicious if Spider Man moved from New York to around MIT the same time Peter did. 

Tony also knew that Peter had stopped doing that about two months ago… he had assumed it was because college had gotten busy. 

He hadn’t really considered that it was actually because Peter’s body had been taken over by an alien. 

But here they were. 

While Rhodey was looking through that feed, Tony ran tests on the alien substance Friday had been able to get from his hands. Thus far he was able to figure out that the alien itself was some sort of all-purpose black gloo that could mold into anything. It was intelligent, obviously, since it had spoken to him. 

And it was not affected by fire, water, poison, or anything else Tony had thrown at it. 

Tony ran a hand over his face, he wasn’t getting anywhere. 

“Hey Tones, I think I found something,” Rhodey called to him. 

Tony swiveled his chair, jumping up to see Rhodey’s screen, which was rewinding. Rhodey hit play and the familiar swooping of Peter’s web swinging came into focus. Tony looked at the corner of the screen to see it was January 15, only one week after May had dropped Peter back off at school. 

Jesus Christ, it really had been the whole time. 

“Hey Karen?” Peter’s voice asked. The voice sounded just as innocent and gentle as Tony remembered it, and it made his chest ache. The Peter they had run into tonight hadn’t sounded like this at all. 

This was the real Peter Parker Tony knew and loved. 

“Yes, Peter.” 

“Do you think it would be too early to ask Mr. Stark if he wanted to come for a weekend visit? It’s just- I have this project I’m working on in bio-chem, ya know, after I finish everything else and I have free time, and I think he’d think it was cool. I can’t move it out of the lab yet though.” 

Tony closed his eyes. Peter hadn’t been avoiding him. Peter had wanted him to come visit. How had he ever thought otherwise? He hated himself in this moment. 

“I am sure Mr. Stark would love to come visit you, Peter.” 

“Okay,” Tony could hear the smile in Peter’s voice. “I’ll text him tomorrow-” 

A loud crash, like garbage bins hitting each other, sounded through the speaker. Peter, of course, moved towards it. 

Tony really fucking wished Peter didn’t  _ always _ move  _ towards _ the weird sounds. 

“Peter, you are not meant to be seen by civilians at this time.” Karen said. Yes, thank you Karen. 

Tony knew Pete didn’t listen to that warning though. And by the hard look on Rhodey’s face, he knew that whatever happened to Peter was about to happen soon. 

Tony almost wanted to stop the video, but he didn’t. He had to know. 

“I’m just going to peek, Karen, don’t worry.” 

Peter landed on top of the roof, and peered over the edge. There were a number of garbage cans tossed haphazardly around the alleyway. Beside them, lay a man. An obviously very dead man, with most of his lower half missing, and a large, black, shape hovering over him. 

Tony blinked, and then stepped back in shock. The alien was  _ eating _ him. It was fucking- 

“Hey!” Peter shouted, jumping over the ledge, “get away from him!” 

The thing turned around and hissed, but Peter didn’t stop. He swung down and kicked it right in the face. Or where a face should be. 

The thing flew across the alleyway. Peter turned to the man on the ground. 

“Oh my god, oh my god-” 

“Peter, I’m sorry, but there is nothing you can do,” Karen said.

“But- but- oh my god!” 

“Peter! Run!” Karen yelled, but it was too late. Tony could already see the black tendrils wrapping themselves around Peter’s wrists. He saw as the thing started to cover Peter’s entire body. 

“What the fuck?” Peter shouted. He was obviously trying to struggle out of it’s grip, but wasn’t moving at all. 

“Do not worry, I’m not eating you.” A garbled, hissing, voice said. “You are strong. I will use you for something else.”

“What- let me go! What is this?!” 

The screen went black, the goo obviously covering Peter’s face now. 

“This is me, and I am Venom,” the hissing voice continued, “and you are  _ mine _ .” 

The video cut off there. Tony and Rhodey sat in silence, staring at the black screen. 

“Friday,” Tony cleared his throat, “why didn’t I get a distress signal from that?” 

“I’m sorry, sir, Karen did not send out a distress signal.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” Tony snarled, stepping away from the screen. “Did we watch the same thing? Peter was very obviously in distress, has  _ been _ in distress, why have I not gotten any- anything?!” 

“Tony, that thing probably got into Peter’s suit,” Rhodey said. “Got into the system. Karen wouldn’t have been able to send a signal if she was offline.” 

“Karen is never supposed to be offline, even when Pete isn’t wearing the suit it’s supposed to be on, so I can track it! But I’ve tried that, and I’m unable to track it! So when the fuck did that happen, and why wasn’t I informed?!” 

“It appears the Spider Man suit has been offline since January 15,” Friday said. “You were not informed because this was not designated as an emergency.” 

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Tony groaned, running both hands over his face. “My kid- my kid gets fuckng abducted by aliends, but that’s not designated as an emergency.” 

“Alright, Tony, calm down. We have a timeline now. We know what this is. Hell, we have a  _ name _ . That’s a lot to figure out in,” Rhodes glanced down. “Six hours. Stop beating yourself, we’re going to get this thing.

Tony let out a long breath into his hands. They knew what they were up against now, at least. They knew they had a kid to save. That was more than he had known this morning. 

His chest still ached at the thought of Peter, trapped inside that thing. Thinking that Tony was going to save him, and having to wait months,  _ months _ , before Tony even knew he needed to be saved. 

“Tony.” 

“Okay,” Tony dropped his hands, shook out his shoulders. “Okay, you go grab us some food. I know you get cranky on an empty stomach. I’m going to keep running tests on this thing. Friday, start trying May again. She needs to know about this.” 

“Alright,” Rhodey clapped a hand on his shoulder, “we can do this.” 

Yeah. They fucking had to. 

\-- 

“But I don’t understand, I’ve talked to him.” 

Tony and Rhodey exchanged a look, and Tony sighed. He wrapped his hands around May’s, where she had it sitting in a clenched fist on his lab bench. 

“We talked to him too, May, but that isn’t Peter. It’s something else, something alien.” 

May kept staring down at the workbench, her brows furrowed in confusion. Tony couldn’t really blame her, it was a lot to take in. Especially when she was probably very hung over. 

Friday had finally managed to get ahold of May at around 9 am. She’d been happy on the phone. Tony had heard Happy giggling in the background, and he had felt bad to bring down their parade, but May needed to know about this. 

Peter was her kid, after all, first and foremost. 

She was not taking the explanation well. 

“But, I talked to him just a few days ago,” May said again, “he- he told me he was working on a physics project and couldn’t talk long. He sounded  _ fine _ .” 

Tony squeezed her hand, “have you seen him since January? Have you guys Facetimed, or have you gone down for a visit?” 

May blinked, and then slowly shook her head, “no. No he always said he was too busy. He actually… we usually… we  _ always _ text, now. Oh God,” her hand flew up to cover her mouth. “He - my baby-” 

“We’re going to get him back, May,” Tony was quick to reassure, “I’m just trying to figure everything out. What have you been talking about, with Pete? Has he asked you anything strange in the last few months? Anything… anything that comes to mind would help, honestly.” 

“I-” May shook her head. “I don’t know, he usually asks about me, I guess. Or talks about his classes. How is he doing that, if he isn’t taking his courses?” 

“We don’t know,” Rhodey said, “but I have talked to the school, and they confirmed that Peter hasn’t been attending class since January. It’s going to take one hell of a doctor’s note to explain that missed semester.” 

“We’ll worry about that later,” Tony said, his mind already whirling. “May, could I see your phone, look at the texts?” 

May pulled it out and dropped it on the table. She didn’t even blink in surprise when Tony pushed in her security code without asking what it was. 

All of Peter’s texts sounded like Peter, Tony wasn’t surprised May hadn’t noticed a difference. The only tell he could find was that he said about the same thing in every conversation, like it was a planned out event that it had to get through to keep its cover. 

A comment about a busy class here, a question about how May was doing there, and then boom have to run can’t chat today. Maybe next time. 

It knew Peter’s classes though. It knew Peter’s schedule, and May’s job, and… it knew everything. 

“It’s in Peter’s head,” he whispered, closing his eyes. 

“What?” May asked, horrified. 

Tony ran a hand over his beard, “it’s the only explanation. It must have access to Peter’s memories, his thoughts. It’s the only way it could know all this. It shouldn’t be that surprising, given that it’s taken over the kids body, but… I don’t know how deep it goes.” 

“Couldn’t it just be making Peter tell it everything?” Rhodey asked. 

Tony shrugged, “maybe, but I doubt Peter would do it. He’s stubborn, and protective, I can’t see him telling this thing anything about May.” 

“So…” Happy chimed in for the first time, his face contorted in confusion and concern, his arm wrapped around May’s shoulders. “What do we do?” 

Tony shook his head, “I don’t know yet. Everything I’ve tried hasn’t worked, but we do know one thing that does,” he looked back at Rhodey, “the repulsor made it back off, though I’m not sure if it hurt it. Fire didn’t do anything, but maybe it was something else, like the flash surprised it.” 

“Or the force of it,” Rhodey said, “that thing is a lot worse than fire.” 

Tony tipped his head, he had a point. 

“You can get this thing out though, right?” May said, “you’re going to get it out, even if- even if it’s all the way inside his head, and then we’re going to fucking kill it.” 

Rhodey raised his brows in surprise, but Tony didn’t. He always knew May was, as Peter said, a boss. 

“We’re going to get it out.” He promised. “And then you can do whatever you want to it.” 

May nodded, her face hardening. “Good.” 

“Sir,” Friday said, making them all freeze, “I have footage of Peter entering Central Park.” 

Tony immediately shot up, the suit already spreading itself over him. “Send me the location.” Rhodey was suiting up too, and May was sitting tense, her hands balled into fists again. “May, I’m going to get our boy back.” 

May nodded once, “you fucking better.” 

Tony’s lips twitched into a grin, before the faceplant curled over his head, and he blasted off. 

\-- 

Friday lead them to the edge of Central Park, and Rhodey and Tony had to look on their own from there. Rhodes flew over head while Tony took to the park on the ground. 

He regretted it as soon as he found Peter… or, Venom in Peter’s body.

The boy was hunched over the ground, the body of a dog lying beneath him. They were behind a few bushes, but not nearly out of view enough for what Tony was seeing. 

Nothing had really prepared him for the sight of Peter, mouth covered in blood, eating the entrails of a dog. 

“Rhodes, I’ve got him,” Tony whispered into his coms. “And, uh, be prepared for something gross.” 

“What?” Rhodey asked, but Tony ignored him because Peter’s head had snapped up at his words. Looks like Venom had gotten Peter’s super hearing as well. Probably should have guessed that. 

He let his faceplate flip up, and raised his arm, repulsor charging. 

“Get out of the kid, and I won’t blast you.” 

The thing smiled and stood up. He wiped the blood off his mouth with the back of his hand, though it mostly just smudged it onto his cheek. 

Tony held his ground as the thing stepped forward. 

“I underestimated you, Stark,” it said in Peter’s voice. “From Parker’s memories, I thought this was a one sided relationship. I thought he’d taken his childhood hero and exaggerated the relationship you two had, but this? You coming here to save him?” The thing chuckled, “it’s precious.” 

“I don’t really give a rats  _ ass _ what you think, get the fuck out of him!” Tony shouted. His repulsor was aimed at Pete’s chest, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to hit there. Not without risking hurting the kid too. 

And the thing must know that, because it just kept talking. Just kept walking closer. 

“It was pretty easy convincing him your relationship was all in his head, Tony Stark,” his mouth started to grow, black tendrils dancing at the corners of his mouth. “Did you know that I had him for two weeks before you texted to check in on him? Two whole weeks. Enough time to get Petey’s tongue soaked with some devine human flesh. Enough time for Peter’s little temper tantrums to fade into the background.” 

The thing was only ten feet away from him now, but Tony knew he was never going to hit Peter. Ever. 

Rhodey touched down on the other side of Peter, his arm raised, but he waited for Tony’s lead. 

Tony didn’t know what to do. 

His eyes burned. 

“You’re first call came one month in,” the thing continued. “It was enough for Peter to question me, but not enough to actually make a difference. So could you please, once and for all, prove my point? You don’t think of Peter as a son, the same way he thinks of you as a father. You’re his employer, his mentor, I’ll even give him that, but you don’t  _ care _ . Not in the way he so craves.” The thing was five feet away, when it stopped. It raised Peter’s arms out. “And look, I’m standing right in front of you, and you’re ready to shoot me. Whether it hurts Peter or not. Doesn’t really scream parental love, if you ask me. Am I right, or am I right?” 

Tony took a breath and put his repulsor down, something flickered in Peter’s eyes when he held up his hands in defeat. 

“Underoos, if you believe a single thing this walking piece of shit has said to you, you’re an idiot. And we both know that’s not true. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met.” 

The thing blinked, and then he was there. Peter was  _ there _ . His eyes were full of fear, and his breaths were coming quickly, but he was  _ here _ . 

“Peter-” Tony reached for him. 

“Mr. Stark, I-” 

Another blink and he was gone, Venom back in its place. It lunged forward, but Rhodes was quicker and blasted it off course before it could hit Tony. The thing was through the trees, running away before there was even a fight. 

They lost it when it hit the city, climbing over a building and vanishing without a trace. 

\-- 

“He’s still in there,” Tony said as soon as he entered his lab. May and Happy both jumped up. “I saw him, May, Peter’s still in there.” 

“I know,” May said, pulling Tony into a hug he was not expecting. “I know, Friday showed us the whole thing.” 

Tony hesitantly raised his arms to hug her back. “We’re going to get him out.” 

“Yeah, we um, might have an idea,” May pulled away and motioned behind her. “Happy, Friday and I, we think we might have something.” 

Tony followed May to the area Tony had been testing the alien substance, Rhodey trailed behind them. 

“She’s being nice, May really figured it out,” Happy said, smiling at the woman. 

“Well, I mean, it was a team effort-” 

“What did you find?” Rhodey cut it. Tony appreciated it, they didn’t really have time for flirting right now. 

Not that that’s ever stopped him before. He wasn’t about to be the one to say it and be a giant hypocrite. 

“Well, you mentioned how it was maybe startled by the light of the blaster?” May held her hand up and pretended to shoot something out of her palm, “but it wasn’t hurt by it? So I asked Friday to try bright lights, or loud noises, to see if that did anything.” 

“It’s called a repulsor-”

“What were the results?” Rhodey cut over him smoothly. Tony sighed, Rhodey was right. Tony could work on May’s vocabulary later. 

“Well, uh, Friday?” May looked up. 

“Starting ‘fuckton of lights’ simulator’.” Friday announced. The black goo of the alien appeared in the center of the screen, and stadium type lights turned on above it. The goo shrank, though not by much. 

“Adding ‘a shitload of noise’ simulator.” 

Pretend speakers appeared beside the stadium lights, and although they couldn’t hear the sound, the goo simulation could. The thing started to wiggle, and then finally started to flatten and try to escape. 

“Holy shit,” Tony stepped forward, looking closely at the thing. “Holy shit, May, you’re a genius!” 

“I’m sure you would have-” 

“Nope. You’re a genius. I knew Pete got it from somewhere.” 

“Peter and I aren’t technically-” 

Tony wasn’t listening though, he was too busy falling into one of his work chairs and swiveling away. 

He had work to do. 

\-- 

It took him two hours to make fifty Fuckton of Light and Shitload of Sound Bombs. Or Fuckton for short. Friday was still on alert to look for any sign of Peter, and Rhodey was making sure May was eating, or drinking, or… whatever it was people needed in times of crisis. He also put a water bottle beside Tony at some point, which was nice. Rhodey was such a good caregiver. 

It was adorable he thought he could distract Tony when he was trying to save his kid. 

Another two hours went by and Tony had the bombs ready to go. Iron Man and War Machine each got 25. He made a cage for the goo alien. They made a game plan. They convinced May that Peter would never forgive them if she came and got hurt. Rhodey even convinced Tony to eat a sandwich. 

It was still hours before Friday sounded an alert. 

“Peter has been spotted entering the Upstairs Nightclub.” 

Tony, who had been sitting in his suit for the past 3 hours, was up and out a second later. War Machine was not far behind. 

The problem arrived when they got to the nightclub, and they quickly realized they couldn’t really fly in there, guns ablazing, without scaring a room full of drunk kids and causing chaos. 

“Should we… take the suits off?” Rhodey asked, fidgeting on the sidewalk beside the front doors. “Go inside to find him?” 

“Pretty sure it’ll just hightail it out of there if it knew we were looking for it,” Tony said, shaking his head. “The only reason that worked the first time was because it knew we didn’t know… I do have an idea though.” 

Tony approached the bouncer, a hologram image of Peter popping up over his arm. “Hey, see this kid? Have you seen him come in tonight?” 

The bouncer looked at the picture. He shrugged. 

Tony prayed for patience. “Right well, I have it on good authority that he’s here, and I am also 100% sure that he is underage and drinking. So, if you don’t want someone to call the cops on this place…?” 

“Shit,” the bouncer grumbled, before turning away from Tony and speaking into his walky talky. 

Tony dropped his arm and made his way back to Rhodey, a grin on his face. 

“Think it’ll be that easy?” Rhodey asked. 

“I don’t see why no-” something slammed into his back, sending him flying into the road. A car honked at him, but Tony ignored it. He was more focused on the smirking Peter that was now standing where Tony had been a second ago. 

“You think you’re funny?” Tony asked, walking back towards the kid. “You think you can keep this up forever?” 

“Yes,” the thing said, before both of its arms shot out and black goo was heading straight for Tony’s face. He was lucky his nano-tech was faster, otherwise he would have gotten a facefull of that shit. 

As it was, he simply had to grab it and throw it away. He wasn’t surprised to find the thing climbing the wall, since clearly all it knew how to do was to distract and run. 

This thing wasn’t very strong, if it didn’t even attempt to fight them. 

Tony and Rhodey landed on the roof just as the thing climbed over the ledge. 

It scowled at them with Peter’s brows. 

“Why don’t you just give up? Peter’s not here anymore, this is the Venom show now.” 

“I know Peter’s still in there, you piece of shit,” he shot out one of the Fuckton bombs before he even finished talking. This wasn’t a game. This was him getting his kid back. 

A blast of light and sound erupted as soon as it hit Peter’s chest, and the thing screeched. He moved to tackle Tony, but Rhodey threw another one at it before it made three steps. 

They both shot out another round, which brought it to its knees. 

“Fight it, Peter!” Tony shouted over the noise, “I know you’re in there, buddy, fight it!” 

The thing let out a hiss, and then it was transforming. The black was spreading, it’s teeth were growing, it’s tongue lashed out and left a trail of slime along Tony’s forearm. 

“Okay, gross,” Tony grumbled, taking a step back. 

Rhodey shot another bomb off, but the thing knocked it away. A second later, it knocked Rhodey off the edge of the roof as well. 

Tony would be more worried about that if it wasn’t already heading for Tony next. 

“Peter, come on kid, get back out here and kick this things ass with me!” 

“Peter is gone!” The chainsaw voice shouted. “Only Venom remains!” 

It took a swipe at Tony, but he ducked out of the way. He fired a bomb at its feet, but it was kicked across the roof. 

It pinned Tony down, it’s arm too strong to push off on his own. 

“Peter, buddy, I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry it took me so long to notice.” Tony moved his head when it tried to punch it’s fist through his skull. “This isn’t on you, kiddo. This isn’t- none of this is your fault.” He dodged again, but felt the side of his helmet slice open, which meant he was probably bleeding now. “Kid, I promise you, I will spend an entire weekend doing nothing but watching Star Wars - Just, Pete, just please fight this-” 

Tony tried to move away again, even when he knew it was too late, the thing was going to squash him like a bug, but it stopped. And then the weight was off of him. 

Tony stood up. The thing was just standing there, the black goo quivering and rippling - until it shot out one, whole, Peter Parker. 

Tony caught him before he hit the ground. 

“Holy - Peter? Pete, you okay?” Peter looked dazed, and pale, but he nodded. Tony smiled at him. “Thank Christ, okay, just give me a sec here-” 

Tony shot three rounds of the Fuckton bombs at the back of the retreating alien, and a repulsor blast on top of that. It fell to the ground, long enough for Tony to shoot the make-shift cage at it as well. 

Only when the thing was fighting against the walls of the plastic air-tight container did he turn back to the kid. 

He cupped his face, “alright kid, look at me, how are you feeling? You’re not going to faint on me, are you?” 

“Um, no?” he coughed, “no, of course not,” Peter shook his head, and then promptly fainted in Tony’s arms. 

Tony sighed, “typical teenager, always lying to me.” 

“Is he okay?” Rhodey asked, finally flying back onto the rooftop. 

“What took you so long?” 

“I, uh, may have landed on a Porsche. And the guy may be threatening to sue the US government for damages.” 

Tony snorted, “like they could prove it.” 

“Tony.”

“What? We’ll just tell everyone you were fighting an unknown alien threat,” he motioned to the goo, “you can even take that thing in as proof. In fact, please do, I don’t want it anywhere near me.” 

Rhodey picked up the case, holding it far away from him as the thing smacked it’s black gross body against the plastic. 

“You need any help getting Peter back before I take this in?” 

“Nah,” Tony scooped the kid into his arms. “I’ve got him.” 

\-- 

Dr. Cho diagnosed Peter as malnourished, dehydrated, and severely sleep deprived. Tony wasn’t surprised, he doubted the alien was eating anything other than… well, it hadn’t been eating anything Peter would have wanted. 

It took a few hours being passed out and hooked up to the IV before Pete came around. In that time May had fallen asleep against the bed, her hand curled around Peter’s firmly. 

Tony was texting with Pepper in Asia, his feet propped up on a chair next to him, when he glanced up and found Peter staring at him. 

“Not creepy at all,” Tony said, pushing his phone into his pocket. “That’s only like, a seven on the creepy scale. And it’s only that high because it was impossible to make sure that thing is entirely out of your head.” 

Peter’s lips twitched, “he’s gone. It’s only me.” 

“Good,” Tony sat up, hesitating only a minute before he was pushing his hand into the kids hair, brushing it off his forehead. Peter grinned up at him, “how are you feeling, kiddo?” 

“Better,” Peter blinked slowly. “Still tired though.” 

“Yeah, not surprising,” he dropped his hand to Peter’s arm, giving it a squeeze. “Go back to sleep, bud, we’ll still be here when you wake up.” 

Peter nodded, moving back into the pillows, but he didn’t close his eyes. Tony waited for whatever it was he obviously wanted to say. 

“Mr. Stark… when Venom was… when he was in me, he- he did a lot of things and-” 

“And that’s on  _ him _ , not  _ you _ , you got that? You’re as much of a victim here as they were.” 

“Mr. Stark, you don’t know what he-” 

“I do, Pete. It did a lot of horrible things, and I’m going to get you the highest rated trauma therapists to deal with that, alright? But it wasn’t your fault. Repeat after me, it wasn’t your fault.” 

“It wasn’t my fault,” Peter said, but his eyes were misty and Tony could tell he didn’t really believe it. 

It was a start though. 

“There you go, one step at a time,” Tony smiled, arranging the sheets over Peter’s chest, “can you do one more thing for me, bud?” 

“Yeah,” Peter croaked. 

“Call me Tony, please. All I’m going to hear now is that creep calling me Stark, and then grinding all up on me, and that’s just-” Tony exaggerated a shiver. 

It won him another grin though. “Okay, Tony.” 

Tony grinned down at him, leaning back in his chair to return to his texts with his wife. 

“Hey, Tony?” 

Tony grinned wider, “yeah, Pete?” 

“Are we watching all the Star Wars movies this weekend, or next?” His eyes were glittering with mischief, and Tony would take that over misty eyed sadness any day. He would definitely take it over the blank eyes that had stared at him at the club. 

He had his Peter back. The world was right again. 

“Whichever you want, Pete, you’re choice.” 

“So, both?” 

Tony laughed, “sure, both. As long as you go back to sleep now.” 

Peter grinned, and then he closed his eyes and quickly faded back to sleep. Tony watched him as his chest rose and fell in peace. 

Yeah. All was alright in his world as long as he had his Peter in it. 

\-- 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a kudos or comment to let me know what you think! :) 
> 
> Also, let me know if you would like me to add any more tags/warnings.


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